'Benching' still bothers Winchester

Ottawa Senators' Jesse Winchester is knocked into the Vancouver Canucks bench by Vancouver Canucks' Maxim Lapierre during the first period of their NHL game in Vancouver, British Columbia, November 20, 2011. (REUTERS/Ben Nelms)

BRUCE GARRIOCH, QMI Agency

The Senators winger told the Sun he’s willing to put the open-door incident at the Canucks bench on Nov. 20 in Vancouver behind him, but the fact it happened still bothers Winchester.

Checked into the bench by Canucks forward Maxim Lapierre in the first period of Ottawa’s 2-1 OT loss at the Rogers Arena, Winchester had to pick himself up off the floor of the bench because the door wasn’t closed properly.

It appeared Canucks winger Alex Burrows had his hand on the door, and the Senators thought he might have opened it.

Friday, Winchester sounded like he was ready to leave the incident in the past.

“I haven’t given it much thought,” he said. “We’ll see what happens. I’ll just play the game the way it’s supposed to be played.”

Still, Winchester reiterated he didn’t like what transpired at the Vancouver bench that night.

“(Burrows) said he didn’t mean it, so I’ll take him at his word,” said Winchester.

“It’s a situation where someone could potentially be hurt and you don’t want to see plays like that, especially those that are unnecessary. In this case, it was dangerous. We’ll see what happens.”